Custodial union objects to volunteers painting school swing set

By ERIC POOLEEPOOLE@ELLWOODCITYLEDGER.COM

Thursday

Oct 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 25, 2012 at 12:15 AM

ELLWOOD CITY — Work on the new playground implement at North Side School began Wednesday. But one item on Parent-Teacher Organization President Kathy McCommons’ wish list won’t be completed in time for recess.

McCommons said she had hoped to have PTO members repaint the existing playground swing set, but the district’s custodians’ union put the kibosh on that. McCommons said the custodians’ union representative, Joe Funari, was nice about it, but that he was adamant.

“I just wanted it to look great for those kids,” McCommons said. “It’s for those 400 kids so their eyes light up when they go out there.”

Volunteers were allowed to build and install the new playground implement because it is not yet considered school property, McCommons said. Because the new play set is owned by the PTO, the union agreement does not apply to it until the installation is completed on Friday.

The existing swing set, belongs to the school district, and any work performed on it must be done by district employees, under the union’s collective bargaining agreement with Ellwood City Area School District.

Funari said he sympathizes with the kids as well. But budget-cutting from declining state public school subsidies have hit his department. He said the district has saved money by leaving two full-time jobs and a part-time job unfilled.

The dispute, which both sides say is comparatively minor, comes on the heels of what McCommons called great cooperation between the PTO and custodial staff.

She said district employees worked hard to install window-mounted air conditioning units at Perry School — which required upgrading the school’s electrical system. The units were ordered shortly before school began, and McCommons said most of them were in place on the first day of class.

While Funari said he understood the PTO’s request, allowing the volunteers to paint the swing set could open the door for projects in which additional volunteers perform custodial work and put employees out of work.

For his part, Funari said he appreciated what the PTO is trying to do, and the custodial crews would have willingly done the paint job, at no expense to the PTO, had the group gone through correct channels.

“The proper way to do it is to give us a work order,” Funari said. “I won’t say it’s going to get done in the next 10 minutes, but we’ll get it done.”

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